Catch Some of the Overlooked Films of 2013

The great thing about being a moviegoer in Los Angeles is that you almost always get a second chance. Here, 70mm prints of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey are rarely out of circulation for very long, and the Nuart seems fated to play The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday at midnight until the end of time.

As proven by Cinefamily's series Underseen & Overlooked of 2013, which runs Jan. 17-30, this forgiveness sometimes extends to new releases as well. Over the next two weeks, the most eccentric revival house in town is screening a selection of its favorites from last year: small-scale indie hit Gimme the Loot; Danish drama The Hunt, which features Mads Mikkelsen in the best performance of last year; ostensible wunderkind Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways; Park Chan-wook's Stoker, the Korean auteur's English-language debut; British institution Ken Loach's The Angels' Share; Sightseers, Ben Wheatley's darkly comic follow-up to his brutal, devastating Kill List; mumblecore godfather Andrew Bujalski's shot-on-video Computer Chess; This Is Martin Bonner (with director Chad Hartigan in person); the Silver Lake–set Afternoon Delight; and the reliably excellent Jia Zhangke's A Touch of Sin, which is receiving a full one-week run.

A suggestion: Take a chance on Michael Bay's underrated Pain & Gain (based on stories in our sister paper Miami New Times, in full disclosure) and Brian De Palma's Passion, both of which find their controversial directors in rare form. Neither is to be missed — especially not twice. —Michael Nordine

If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.

SUCCESS!

Michael Nordine is a regular contributor to LA Weekly and its satellite papers, for whom he also serves as film copy-editor. A native Angeleno, he is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.